Mark Cerny: PS4 Not Strictly About Games But Not Meant to be “A Box You Can Watch TV On”

Chief system architect for the PS4 says games are the core focus of the console.

Chief system architect for the PlayStation 4 Mark Cerny recently spoke to Polygon about the other functions the console is capable of including TV viewing, apps and other services. However, in terms of the console’s gaming focus, Cerny said that he agreed with Sony’s overall approach that it’s not meant to replace your TV or PC or whatever else you view your media on.

“Well, PlayStation 4 is not strictly about games. I mean, look around this room right now and you’ll see all the different things that you can do that are not games, like the Hulu and the Netflix and all of those things. It’s just that when we go out and we talk about it, we talk about it as primarily a game console. And by the way, it does those other things too.

“We don’t go out there and say, ‘hey, here’s a box you can watch TV on.'” Cerny was also confident of their being room for a console purely centered on gaming. “I think that yes, there’s a huge audience for devices that primarily play games.”

The PlayStation 4 will be releasing on November 15th in North America and November 29th in Europe. Sony’s gaming-centered approach has fared it well thus far – how will it perform come launch day? Stay tuned.